State champs relish crowns

The trend continued for Chris Carrier on Tuesday night. Belt the long ball, get the hardware.

The tall rightfielder, who helped Christian Brothers win another state Division 2-AA baseball title with a home run against Montgomery Bell Academy in last week's championship game, hit four in cavernous USA Stadium to win the Home Run Derby portion of the second State Farm Shelby County All-Star game.

"In the end we just played relaxed because it's like all of us have played together forever," said Carrier, one of nine seniors on the Wave's title team.

It wasn't just the Brothers who had that golden glow about them as the senior stars of the county's public and private schools capped a spectacular May run by area schools. Collierville's Jeff Hopkins and his Dragons were basking in the warmth of their 22-2 April-May run to the Class AAA title. Even more satisfying was that it came attached to a 6-2 finals win over longtime nemesis Knoxville Farragut.

"You're asking me what's better?" Hopkins said with a laugh. "That's like asking if I prefer New York strip to ribeye. Take 'em both."

And ECS rode the hot bat of Mississippi State-bound Brent Rooker, who blasted four homers in two early round games, and a late hot streak to its second Division 2-A title in three years with back-to-back wins over a Harding squad that had defeated them in the regionals.

"I made a couple of tweaks in my swing just before the substate round, and everything fell into place," he said. "And we all got hot at the right time."

Harding coach Al Stevens said, "Sometimes you wonder if you could have set things up differently. But we had exactly what we wanted in place, and ran into a team that peaked at the right time. I'm just grateful to have a run of three straight finals (with one title). A lot of good coaches never get one."

CBHS had to come from a loss down in both the quarterfinal round and the state tournament. Murray State-bound catcher Tyler Lawrence said that's when preparation came into play.

"The offseason workouts are insane, and there we had all these seniors to lean on," he said. "Daniel Shaw, one of our young pitchers, had to go in the final, and was nervous. But we talked to him for 40 minutes, telling him everyone was there and he pitched great."